again, john boehner is an honorable man. i think he has outside forces in his own conference working against him, but more importantly working against the american people. it is our sincere hope that we are able to resolve this and get it done without taking this nation over the fiscal cliff. minimally, our caucus is unanimous in our support and responsibility to take a vote in the house of representatives. with that, i turn it to our vice chair. >> we do have votes -- i'll be brief. i will simply state that the house majority called us back for votes. today believe voting -- votes are beginning as we speak. our understanding is that none of the votes we will be casting today have anything to do with the deadlines that we face in slightly more than 24 hours. we are here, we are ready, we believe there is a bill that would help address some of these deadlines that we face and the fiscal consequences of not ask -- acting on these deadlines before us. that is the bipartisan-passed bill that would protect middle- class families,